Black Wings, Gray Skies (Black Hat Bureau 4)

“Colby might not consider you her mother,” Asa said into the quiet, “but she views you as a mother figure.”

“I don’t know why I said it.” I mentally kicked myself. “She’s so prickly about her family, with good reason. That’s why we don’t do labels. She’s not ready for them. I know that.” I growled. “I know that, and I said it anyway.” I thumped my head on the metal. “I’m blaming this on your fae juju, just so you know. It’s all your fault. The verbal diarrhea is contagious and infects all aspects of my life now.”

“I’m sorry.” Asa brushed his elbow against mine. “I can’t help it.”

“I don’t want to change you,” I said, knowing he needed to hear me say so. “I need the nudge, truth be told.” I shifted the weight in my arms. “Otherwise, I might have let you get away.”

“I never tried to escape.”

Stupid warmth unfurled in my chest, making it hard to breathe. “No common sense.”

“Not where you’re concerned, no.”

“Momma,” Sorie whimpered, shattering the moment. “Momma.”

Three years later, the elevator doors glided open, and we stepped back into the restaurant.

“Where do you want to do this?” Asa reexamined the space. “Does it matter?”

“Center of the room.” I removed the handheld besom broom from my kit and knelt to sweep away the dust while I cleansed the space of negative energies with a chant under my breath. “Okay, set it here.”

Careful not to track dirt into the space, he did as I instructed then pulled away to watch my back.

Tuning out my hormones, I settled in to create a multi-ring ward like the one I set for Colby. This one packed less of a punch, but it wasn’t meant to protect Sorie. Just keep him from escaping until Momma graced us with her presence, and we put this twisted case to rest.

When instant gratification proved unforthcoming, Asa and I sat with our backs against a wall in a small salt circle of our own. Enough to protect us from a sudden attack but one easily broken from our side.

“Jilo and Marah are both full of crap.” I pursed my lips. “What do you think is really happening here?”

“Jilo experimented on herself to prove reproduction is possible. Perhaps it’s dedication to preserving the species. More likely, she wants to usurp Marah and claim the grume as her own. She’s betting on a dying species siding with whoever can guarantee their survival, and Sorie is her proof they can still propagate.”

“I would have expected Sorie to be female, since he was torn off a female, but he’s clearly male.”

“Perhaps his mother wanted him to embody their originator in all ways,” he mused. “That would explain why she fixated on boy children. If it was merely portion control, as Jilo suggested, any child would have sufficed, but all the victims are male.”

“He was the bait.” I turned the idea over in my head. “I thought it was her, but this feels right.”

As soon as the mark wandered out of sight of his caretakers, she swooped in for the kill.

“If he wore the victims,” he agreed, “it would have reinforced his gender identity.”

The idea of learning from a skin made me question whether Jilo had been lying when she said nothing of the owner remained after death.

“Why did we have to stumble across the one faction that can’t handle its own housekeeping?”

“We didn’t,” he reminded me. “We were brought here for our housekeeping skills.”

“So, Jilo can’t outright kill Marah.” I got back on track. “Or her supporters.”

“The same goes for Marah,” Asa countered. “She can’t kill Jilo or her supporters.”

“Marah has a good thing going.” I turned her potential motives over in my head. “She’s the leader of the grume. It’s small, so low maintenance. There are few candidates to choose from to replace her. They live in a secure location in a city where they can hunt safely. She has everything she wants. Why risk dying to create offspring when she’s content in her role? She’s accepted the boo hags’ fate. Jilo, clearly, has not.”

“Their feud doesn’t explain how the killer knew to target Colby.”

That question had plagued me since the moment I pegged a boo hag as responsible for her ailment.

“In either scenario, Black Hat was drawn here to take out the competition, whether it be Jilo or Marah.” I drew my knees to my chest. “Thanks to the company uniform, we’re not what I would call inconspicuous. The boo hags wouldn’t have had to work hard to locate a hotel hosting a paranormal predator convention.” I let my gaze go unfocused as I pieced it together. “They were still there, watching, waiting, when the four of us got in. Boo hags feed on breath, on soul. They would have noticed Colby’s light and fixated on her, the same as a vampire would pop a dental erection if they smelled fresh blood.”